CAN I GO TO PRISON FOR FAILING TO FILE OR PAY MY TAXES?
I hear varieties of this question frequently in my office. In this week’s blog, I have taken two examples from newspaper articles of examples of individuals who violated different sections of the tax code and unfortunately ended up in prison.Former Wisconsin Restaurant Owner Receives Prison
Term for Evading Income Taxes
On February 27, 2008, in Madison, Wis., Sabi Atteyih was sentenced to 12 months plus one day in prison, to be followed by a three year term of supervised release for income tax evasion. On January 2, 2008, Atteyih pleaded guilty to evading his income taxes for 2002. While owning the Casbah Restaurant in Madison, Atteyih underreported his taxable income from the restaurant from 2002 through 2005 by $349,673 and he evaded income taxes totaling $128,938.
Minnesota Woman Sentenced for Failing to Pay Employment Taxes
On April 20, 2009, in St. Paul, Minn., Kara Kristine Sommer, of Burnsville, Minn., was sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release for failing to pay the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) payroll taxes from employees of a construction business. According to her plea agreement, Sommer admitted withholding or causing to be withheld amounts for federal income taxes and Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes from the wages of employees of Frontier Construction, Inc., located in Burnsville, from April 1, 2002, through Sept. 30, 2006.
Sommer was responsible for accounting, payroll management and income taxes for Frontier Construction. Her duties included withholding federal payroll taxes from employee paychecks and paying over the withheld taxes to the IRS. From April 1, 2002, to September 30, 2006, Sommer deducted and collected federal income taxes and FICA taxes from the taxable wages of Frontier employees. Sommer admitted that during the tax years of 2001 through 2005, she willfully failed to account for and to pay over to the IRS a total amount of taxes of nearly $200,000.
If you see yourself in either of these articles, please give Tax Attorney Mary E. King a call at (941) 906-7585 to discuss your situation. I will be happy to meet with you in confidence.
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posted by Mary E. King on Tue., Sep 27th, 2011 in Florida IRS Tax Attorney Florida Tax Attorney Legal Services Tax Evasion Tax Law Tax Laws and Politics Tax Problems |
